


Like the Cover of Time Magazine

by StupidGenius



Series: Teen Wolf (The much gayer version) [1]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Body Dysphoria, Canon-Typical Violence, Derek is actually nice and not that much of a creeper in the begining, Epilepsy, Erica Reyes & Stiles Stilinski Friendship, Erica is basically Scott in this situation, Erica's mom is a good person, Hurt Erica, Multi, Slurs, Trans Female Character, Transphobia, We need more Erica Reyes honestly, also
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-20
Updated: 2015-07-20
Packaged: 2018-04-10 04:33:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4377368
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StupidGenius/pseuds/StupidGenius
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Stiles.” Erica sighs, and Stiles can see her now, Leaning back in her worn old beanbag chair and rolling her eyes at the ceiling. “What do you want?”</p><p>“I am appalled that you would – okay, fine. They found a dead body in the woods an hour ago and the police are conducting a search in the preserve. I wanna go check it out, but Scott’s being all responsible and shit, and he won’t go with me.”</p><p>There’s a pause, and then</p><p>“I’m on my way.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Like the Cover of Time Magazine

**Author's Note:**

> Erica Reyes was so important, and i'm still upset about her death.
> 
>  **IMPORTANT:**  
>  This series talks about: body dysphoria, epilepsy, transphobia, homophobia, child abuse, and verbal abuse. Wanted to make that clear now, in case anyone might have a problem with any of those topics.
> 
> Also, i thought of the title when i was watching an interview with Laverne Cox.
> 
>  
> 
> **PLEASE READ THE TAGS**

“You know you’re my favorite girl?” Stiles says the moment Erica answers the phone. “Have I told you that enough lately? Like, yeah, Lydia’s a goddess, but you’re also a goddess, and –”

“Stiles.” Erica sighs, and Stiles can see her now, Leaning back in her worn old beanbag chair and rolling her eyes at the ceiling. “What do you want?”

“I am appalled that you would – okay, fine. They found a dead body in the woods an hour ago and the police are conducting a search in the preserve. I wanna go check it out, but Scott’s being all responsible and shit, and he won’t go with me.”

“If they already found the body, why are they still searching?”

“That’s just it!” He grins. “They only found half.”

There’s a pause, and then

“I’m on my way.”

“Already parked out front, my queen.”

“I’ll get my coat.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

The plan to search for the other half of the body goes disastrously when, inevitably, Stiles’ dad finds him and escorts him home, leaving Erica alone in the woods. And it’s not like he could tell his father to go back and get the _epileptic teenage girl_ they left behind, because she wasn’t supposed to be there in the first place.

The next morning, at school, Stiles rushed up to her the second he saw her. She grins at him when wraps her up in a tight embrace.

“Oh thank god you’re okay.” He buries his face in her hair, which kind of smells like burnt coffee. Just like always.

“Yeah, aside from the dead body and the wolf, I’m totally fine.” She assures him, and wait, what?!

“You found the body! Holy shit, really?”

“Yeah, and it was enough to fuel my nightmares for years.”

“That’s so – wait, wolf?” He frowns. “Erica, buddy, there hasn’t been a wolf in California for almost 60 years.”

“Yes! A fucking wolf, Stiles. I think. It came out of nowhere, and then, the next thing I know –” She looks around a bit suspiciously, and then lifts up the side of her shirt. For a second, Stiles thinks she’s going to strip for him, but a) they don’t like each other like that, and b) they’re in the middle of the school parking lot. “Look at this!” Stiles looks down and –

There’s a large bandage on her waist, a small dot of red on one side, and Stiles’ heart beats double time.

“Erica! What the fuck! That thing could have had rabies, did you go to the hospital?!” She just rolls her eyes at him, as if rabies wasn’t a real and serious danger right now.

“Relax Stilinski, I’m fine.”

“You can’t know that! You – Lydia.” His gaze zeroes in on the strawberry-blonde goddess that’s about to enter the school. “H-hey, Lydia! You – you look…like you’re gonna ignore me…” he sighs, watching her and Jerkson disappear into the school.

“You can get someone much better than her, Stiles.” Erica says softly. His shoulders slum.

“Yeah right.”

“I mean it.” She punches him in the arm and, oh, that actually hurt. “Come on. We’re gonna be late, and Harris is gonna kill us.”

“Right. Wouldn’t want to miss that.” She laughs.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Erica pushes a lock of hair behind her ear, wincing at the sound of someone getting a text. The ding echoes loudly in the quiet classroom, and her rubs at the bridge of her nose. Second period was the worst.

As the teacher starts to talk, someone’s phone starts to ring, and she looks around. _Why hasn’t he said anything?_ She thinks, eyebrows furrowing. She pauses when her gaze lands on the window, watching two teenagers outside. One of them was on the phone.

 _“…Forgot a pen on the first day of school.”_ The girl outside groans, rummaging through her bag. There’s a boy next to her, grip on his bag tight and anxious, even though he’s smiling.

 _“Tell her I told you this would happen, and you still didn’t listen to me.”_ He grins, and Erica could watch him all day, getting lost in his light blue eyes. His hair looks so soft, too. _“Come on. We’re already late. I’m not gonna have a clue what they’re talking about in class already.”_

 _“Yeah, okay.”_ The girl says. _“Love you mom. Isaac loves you too.”_ She says into the phone. There’s a beep, and then she puts it away in her bag, just as the assistant principle comes up to them.

She tries to focus on what the teacher’s saying, but she can barely hear him over the conversation in the hallway. Which is ridiculous, of course, because she shouldn’t be able to hear the people in the hallway, or the kids outside on the phone. She shouldn’t be able to hear any of that, but she is. Oh god, what if Stiles was right? What if that crazy wolf thing really did –

“… is Isaac Argent, I expect you to make him feel welcome.”

_Of course it’s my class._

“You can take a seat behind Reyes.” The teacher says, and she looks up. The guy – Isaac, apparently – gives her a small smile as he sits down. She thinks she smiled back, but honestly, it could have been a grimace. She leans back, turning her head a bit.

“The syllabus.” She whispers.

“What?” His voice is right in her ear.

“We’re talking about the syllabus. You haven’t missed anything.” She clarifies.

“Oh. Thanks.” She leans forward again, risking a glance back at him. He’s grinning.

“No problem.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

“I can’t believe I agreed to come back here and look for the body with you. _Again_!” Erica sighs, trying not to step in the small stream of water below them.

“Stop trying to change the subject!” Stiles groan. “You said weird stuff has been happening all day! And that thing in PE? What _was_ that?!” He flails.

“I – I dunno. It was like I had all the time in the world to catch the ball. So I did.” She shrugs. “But it’s not just that. I can hear stuff I shouldn’t be able to hear, I can smell things –”

“Smell things? Like what?”

“Like the spearmint gum in your pocket?”

“What are you – I don’t have any gum in my –” He digs around in his pocket, pausing when he reaches a piece of gum. It was partially unwrapped. He put it in his pocket this morning, but had forgotten all about it. When he looks up, Erica makes a ‘told-you-so’ face and throws her hands up.

“What if it’s like an infection or something? My body having some weird reaction to the wolf bite cause of my epilepsy?” She continues as they walk along.

“I actually think I’ve heard of this. Uh-huh, it’s a specific kind of infection.”

“Are you serious?”

“Yeah, uh, I think it’s called…Lycanthropy. Oh, yeah, it’s bad. But only once a month.” Erica levels him with a look.

“Once a month.”

“Uh-huh. On the full moon.” She makes a face, and he laughed. “ _Arooooo_!”

She shoves him hard in the center of his chest and he stumbles, laughing.

“Dick.”

“Hey! You’re the one that said you heard a wolf howling.”

“There could be something seriously wrong with me, Stiles.”

“I know! You’re a werewolf! _Rawrrrrr._ ” She rolls her eyes and walks up further than him. “Okay, come on, obviously I’m kidding. But, if you see me in shop class trying to melt all the silver I can find, it’s cause Friday is a full moon.” They stopped, and Erica crouched down.

“I could have sworn this was it. I saw the body, and then the deer, and – I dropped my bracelet.”

“Maybe the killer moved the body?” Stiles wonders. Erica sighs.

“If he did I hope he left my bracelet. Mom can’t afford to replace it.” She starts to dig around the dead leaves a bit, and Stiles shoves his hands in his pockets, looking up and _oh holy fuck_ –

There’s a guy – Derek Fucking Hale, holy shit – standing a few yards away, watching them with an impressive glare on his face, thick black eyebrows pointing downwards and his lips turned in a scowl. Stiles jolts, heart hammering, and flails in the general direction of Erica’s back. She straightens, and Derek approaches them, still looking incredibly angry.

“What are you doing here? This is private property.” Stiles rubs a hand through his buzzed hair, glancing at Erica.

“S-sorry man, we didn’t know.”

“We were just – uh, looking for something.” Erica chimes in. “Forget it, we –”

He tosses something at her.

Her epilepsy bracelet.

When they look back up, He’s gone.

“Dude.” Stiles breathes.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Later that night, After Scott left the vet’s clinic, Erica flips the sign on the door and goes to the back room to inspect the bite wound. She pulls out a small first aid kit and sets it on the sink before peeling off her sweater. So it won’t get in the way.

Looking at her chest hurts. Really, looking at any part of her body hurts her. Because it’s not what she wants it to be. It probably won’t ever be how she wants it to be. Her boobs are probably the smallest in the school, her waist barely there. She’s started growing hips though, so that’s good. But no amount of hormone therapy could get rid of what’s between her legs.

She pushes her blonde hair back and ties it up, taking a deep breath and looking in the mirror.

_Erick liked trying on her mommy’s clothes .they were pretty, and soft, and not at all like the clothes daddy made her wear. Mommy always called her her beautiful girl, but only when daddy wasn’t around._

_He didn’t like it._

_“What the hell are you doing?” Daddy grabbed her arm, dragging her away from the place mommy kept all her clothes. “Get the fuck out of your mother’s things. Boys don’t play with jewelry.”_

_“Theo! Don’t talk to her like that!” Mommy rushed in, pulling her away._

_“’Her’? You’re encouraging him now?”_

_“This isn’t a phase for her. You know it isn’t. No child could keep up something this long if it was just a game.” Mommy hugged her, and she felt big tears rolling down her cheeks, cause daddy didn’t look very happy. He looked mad._

_“My son is not gonna grow up to be a fucking tranny, Patty!”_

_“Don’t you dare –”_

_“We just need to send him away. Military school or something. They can beat this shit out of him before it gets too far.”_

_“Are you insane!?” Mommy screamed. “What the hell is wrong with you?!”_

_“Me?! This little fag thinks he’s a girl!”_

_“Get out.”_

_“Pat –”_

_“GET. OUT.”_

_Erick never saw him after that._

Erica rubs at her wrist, feeling phantom fingers pressing into them, bruising.

_“Honey, I can’t keep calling you Erick.” Mommy told her over breakfast the next day. “That’s not a girl’s name.”_

_“Daddy said I was a boy.” She said sadly._

_“Daddy doesn’t know what the hell he’s talking about.” She looked up, and mommy was smiling at her. “What about Natalie? You like that name? That’s what I wanted to name you.”_

_“No.” She shook her head, her falling into her face. She was supposed to get it cut last week, but mommy said it was okay if she didn’t want too. “I like Erick.”_

_“What about Erica?” Mommy suggested. She thought about it._

_“Okay.”_

She shakes her head, focusing on the task at hand. She peels back the tape holding the bandage down, wincing when it pulls at the fine hairs on her stomach, and –

It’s gone.

The bite is completely gone.

“What the fuck?” She whispered, squinting at her reflection in the mirror. The skin was smooth, completely unmarred, except for a mole on her hip. She runs her hand over it, gaping.

“Nope.” She decides. “I’ll deal with this later.”

She puts her sweater back on, sighing when she sees that Scott left one of his shirts back here, and goes to get the cat food. It’s significantly less heavy than it was yesterday, but she doesn’t think much of that when she opens the door of the back room and grins at the kittens.

“Hey Kitties.” She hums, going to open the bag and oh –

They’re all meowing at her.

Loud meows and clearly not the friendly kind. They’re practically throwing themselves at her, small bodies pressed against the thin metal bars, claws out. She stumbled back, running out of the room and slamming the door behind her. There was a pounding on the door, and for a second, she thinks the cats finally got out, but then she turns around, and its.

It’s Isaac.

He’s soaked through with water, and knocking hard against the door. Erica rushes over to open it, because shit, he looks like he’s in trouble.

“I didn’t see it! I took my eyes off the road for like two seconds, and – The dog – it just came out of nowhere –”

“Woah, okay, it’s okay.” She stops him. “A – a dog? Do you remember where it happened, so I can –”

“No, I know where I hit it, it’s just – the dog’s in my car.” Oh.

They run out into the rain, and oh she hates this, hates it so much, because her sweater was thin, and it’s clinging to every non-existent curve of her body, and it’s not fair. This incredibly hot, gorgeous guy is taking her to fix an injured dog, and she looks like shit, and she feels like shit – seriously, her boobs _hurt_. And her hips. But that’s not important right now.

When Isaac opens the trunk, the dog growls and barks at him, and he jumps back. She grabs his arm, steadying herself, and leans forward.

“She’s just frightened.” Erica explains.

“Yeah, well…” Isaac mumbles.

“Let me try.” She crouches down a bit and stares. She doesn’t know why she’s staring, because that’s not something she does in these situations, but something in her is telling her to do it. To remind this dog of her rank, which is ridiculous, because since when does she consider dogs below humans?? Never, that’s when.

It works though, because the dog whines and lowers her head in submission. Erica smiles softly, running a hand over smooth, wet fur.

“That’s…amazing.” Isaac whispers behind her.

She feels something warm settle in her chest.

 

 

* * *

 

 

“Have you seen Erica?” Stiles wonders when he sees Scott.

Unsurprisingly, the two of them are benched for this practice, as per fucking usual. Scott because of his asthma, and Stiles because….well, he’s not the best at this, honestly.

“No, not since first period. Why?”

“I have to talk to her about something.” He sighs. When Scott continues to look at him, He rolls his eyes. “My dad got the lab analysis back from the corner. Those fibers they found on the body? Wolf hair. I need to –”

“Uh, dude?”

“Yeah Scotty?”

“Isn’t that her over there talking to the new kid?” Stiles looks over in the direction that Scott is pointing, and huh, yes it is. Erica’s got her hands shoved deep in the pockets of her sweatpants, big smile on her face as the new guy talks to her. The back of his jersey says ‘Lahey 14’, and it’s black, not red like the rest of them. Which, huh, weird, cause didn’t he introduce himself as Isaac Argent in chem?

“I have to go talk to her.” Stiles started to get up, but Scott stopped him.

“Can’t it wait? It looks like she’s flirting. When was the last time you saw her like that.”

“Never.” He replies grumpily, sitting his ass back down.

Halfway through practice, someone throws the ball too hard, and they all watch in amazement as Erica jumps up and catches it in her hand.

Coach cheers.

 

 

* * *

 

 

When Stiles gets home, he goes straight to his desk and turns on his laptop, looking up everything he can on werewolves.

It was a joke, at first. Of course it was. But the more he watched, the more he realized that Erica was _different_ now. She looked a bit more muscular, clearer skin, and the hearing and reflexes thing she mentioned? Yeah, he witnessed that first hand. Now, he’s sitting at his desk, drowning in what could or could not be fake information on werewolves.

A loud knock sounds at his door, and he jumps, flailing out of his chair. He slams the laptop shut and goes to open the door.

It’s Erica, grinning like a mad woman.

“Oh my g – get in here.” He herds  her in.

“Did you see me out there?! Holy shit, today has been the best day ever. And I’m officially the awesomest friend ever, cause I got Scotty a date with that hot new Argent girl, and – hell, did you know coach thinks I could be a really good lacrosse player? I mean, he didn’t before, but apparently now that I know how to catch a ball I’m hot shit.” Erica runs a hand through her blonde locks.

“That, uh, great, Erica, but – I  - you gotta see this, dude. I was up all night reading – websites, books, all the things, and –”

“Woah, slow down. How much Adderall have you had today?” Erica asks, frowning. Stiles shrugs.

“A lot.” She laughs. “It doesn’t matter, okay, just listen.”

“Is this about the body? Did they find out who did it?”

“No, they’re still questioning people. Even Derek Hale.”

“The creeper from the woods?”

“Yes! Yes, but – that’s not it, okay! Remember the joke I made the other day? In the woods?” She nods. “Not a joke anymore.”

She just looks confused.

“The wolf, the bite in the woods! I started doing all this research – do you even know why a wolf howls!?”

“Yeah. To signal its location to the rest of the pack.”

“Yeah – yes, exactly! So, if you heard a wolf howling, th-that means that other coud have been nearby, maybe even a whole pack of them.”

“I whole pack of wolves?’ She raises an eyebrow. Stiles feels himself deflate.

“No…werewolves.”

She frowns at him, looking at him like he’s grown another head. Or maybe lost it. He won’t disagree with her there.

“Are you serious right now? Stiles, Isaac’s coming to pick me up in an hour for the party. There’s no such thing as werewolves.” She gets up, and stiles throws an arm out, stopping her.

“No, look, Erica – I saw you in PE, and on the field. What you did wasn’t just amazing, it was impossible.”

“It’s impossible for me to catch a fucking ball?”

“No! It’s just – your reflexes, your sense of smell!? That’s not normal! And don’t even think I didn’t notice that you didn’t take your meds today.”

“Okay!” She explodes. “We’ll talk about this tomorrow then, cause I’ve got to get ready.”

‘What? No! We can’t – the full moon’s tonight, Erica –” He goes to her backpack, rummaging through ti until he finds her cellphone.

‘What are you doing?”

“I’m telling Isaac you have to cancel, there’s no way –”

“NO.”

The air’s whooshing past him, and for a second, he thinks it’s the wind. But then he remembers that it can’t be, because his window is closed, and he’s in his room. He blinks, and Erica’s in front of him, hand fisted in his shirt and other fist raised like she’s gonna punch him. He flinches, and she jumps back, pushing his chair aside and breathing heavy. Her hair I falling like a curtain over her face, and one brown eyes watches him warily as she calms down.

“I…I’m sorry.” She said quietly, grabbing her stuff. “I gotta…go get ready for the party. Sorry.” He doesn’t move, not until she’s out the door.

When he checks behind his chair, there are claw marks.

 

 

* * *

 

 

“So is this a party or a date?” Erica’s mother asks, grinning. She ducks her head down and runs the brush through her hair again, smiling.

“It might be both. Possibly.”

“Uh-huh. Do we need to have a…talk?”

“Ugh, mom.” She rolls her eyes. “I already had the safe sex talk, and besides, it’s not like anyone could get me pregnant.”

“Um, no-o-o!” Her mother stares, wide eyed. “Oh my god, I meant about drinking, Erica.”

“Oh.” She flushes. “Uh…”

“Oh my word. Just go. I think I hear a car outside.”

When she got there, she could see Isaac in the car, smiling at her, and Allison and Scott in the back seat. She bit her lip, tucking a strand of hair behind her hear, and quickly waved goodbye to her mom before bounding over to the car.

“You look great.” Isaac tells her once he starts to drive. She holds back the giggle rising in her chest.

“You’re not so bad yourself.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

Okay, so, this isn’t exactly how she figured her night would go. She figured she’d be kissing Isaac by now, or getting drunk, maybe. Not sitting in her bathtub, topless and wet, while her best friend pounds at the door and fucking _claws_ sprout out her nails.

All she hears is something about Isaac, and Derek, and Bite, and she’s gone. Later, she’ll remember snippets of this night and groan, but for now, she’s kind of pissed.

She catches Isaac’s scent and follows it until it’s all she can smell. Her vision is kind of hazy, but she recognizes his cardigan hanging from a tree branch, and she knows he wouldn’t have just left it there himself.

“Where is he?!” She snarls, crouched down on all fours, looking everywhere around her. She can smell someone else – wolf, she thinks.

“Somewhere safe from you.” A voice says, and she whips around, growling at none other than _Derek Hale_.

“What did you do with him?” She’s about to leap forward when he tackles her, sending them both tumbling down the shallow hill. She snarls at him, and he pushes her roughly against a tree, Eyes glowing blue. She doesn’t know why, but it calms her. “Why –”

“Shhh.” Derek said, looking around. She blinks. She doesn’t hear anything, but then again, she’s new at this. “Damn it. they’re already here.” He gets up quickly, pulling her along. “Run.”

He sprints away, and she starts to follow after him, but then there’s a blinding light, and _oh fuck that hurts!_

She’s pretty sure someone just shot her in the arm – with an arrow, oh my god – and it’s stuck to a tree. She’s screaming, she knows that much. When she looks around, she sees three mean holding weapons, and she can smell Derek nearby.

“Take her.” She hears the guy in the middle say, and she whimpers. She is too young and too pretty to die right now. She closes her yes, waiting – for the kill shot, for the guys to grab her, _anything_ – when she feels someone snap the arrow – _ow_ – and grab her arm.

“Quickly.” The werewolf hisses, and she follows, running after him until her lungs hurt and she has to stop. She slides down against a tree, holding her now uninjured arm to her chest. Which she just realized as bare, aside from her bra. Amazing.

“Who were they?’ She breathes, rubbing at her arm.

“Hunters.” Derek explains. “They’ve kind of been hunting us for centuries.”

“Us?” She snarls, suddenly angry. “You mean you! You’re the asshole who did this to me!”

“Is it really so bad, Erica? That you can see better, hear better than any human could ever hope to? You’ve been given something most people would kill for. The Bite is a gift.”

“I don’t want it!”

 His expression softens a bit. “You will. And I didn’t do this to you. Someone else did. That’s why I’m here.” She relaxes a bit.

“You didn’t?”

“No. That’s why I’m here. I need to…find them.” He frowns, putting a hand on her shoulder. “You and me? We’re family now, okay? You’re going to need me if you want to learn how to control this.”

“I…” She looks into his eyes, searching. It’s the most sincere expression she’s seen on his face so far, and she doesn’t know how she knows this, but he isn’t lying to her.

“Okay.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

On Monday, she’s wrestling with her new lacrosse gear when she sees him.

“Isaac!” She calls, almost tripping over herself to get to him. Stiles gives her a thumbs up and Scott smiles as she goes, and she grins back at them.

Isaac frowns at her when she gets there.

“You left me.”

“Yeah, I know.” She bites her lip. “I’m really sorry about that. I had some…stuff to deal with.”

“Why don’t I believe that?” He sighs. She winces.

“Look, I – Friday was wonderful, and you’re perfect, but I don’t…You wouldn’t want me.”

“And why not? Who says you get to decide this for me?” He snaps.

“You – I’m not – I’m trans.” She blurted.

Oh god.

Oh god oh god _oh god_.

She did not.

“What.” Isaac blinks, and she feels like the whole world is gonna collapse, air pressing agsint every part of her.

“I – I –”

“That’s why you left? Cause you were afraid I wouldn’t like you since you’re…”

“Uh, yeah, I – what’s happening?’ She groans.

“I couldn’t care less what you’ve got in your pants.” Isaac says quietly, grabbing her hand. “I like you, not your body. Although.” He grins. “the fact that you’re hot is definitely a plus.”

“Oh.”

“You do this with everyone you date?”

“I – I was nervous.” She stutters. "I didn’t think…”

“I’m giving you a second chance.” He decides, closing his locker. “That okay?”

“Yeah.” She breathes. “More than.”

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so, all day i was thinking about Trans Woman Erica, and then i thought about how awesome it would be if Erica and Stiles were the ones that went into the preserve instead of Stiles and Scott, and I wondered how the bite would affect the body if the person bitten was trans, and tada! This fic was born.
> 
> Later on, they'll discuss what's happening to her body, since werewolf metabolism is too high for them to get drunk, or for pills to work, I'm assuming any hormones she takes from then on would do pretty much nothing. Though, maybe you can guess what's happening already.
> 
> And, okay, There's no Sterek in this one, i realized, but there will be? Very soon.
> 
> Erica's mother's name is Patricia, pronounced Pah-tree-see-ah, i guess, for anyone who doesn't speak Spanish/ can't roll their R's? Cause my non-Spanish-speaking friends say 'Patrisha'.


End file.
